Big Boss Man, Wharf Rat, and Big Boss Man from this concert are featured on the famous Skull and Roses album.

The night before after an explosive Morning dew The audience calla for Dark star JG responds No where were you guys the last couple of years when we played it every night.
Hope they were here this night

1st Set: Off to a crispy, clean start. Mine starts with BIG BOSS MAN. Very clean as is LOSER. Lots of tuning before a standard PITB. Picks up a little with HARD TO HANDLE with an excellent jam that is building to the 29th. Now we get crazy with DARK STAR. The crowd goes nuts and so do we. Classic DS but clear and precise and Phil liking to stomp all over everything in a very good way. Beautiful transition into WHARFRAT. Excellent version of this song. CASEY JONES is large and played beautifully.

2nd Set: We get to hear a little bit of Duane Allman but not nearly enough. The first three songs are good and notable for the fact Duane played. CHINA/RIDER is crisp and large but kind of short. Good version though. GOOD LOVIN is as good as it always has been this spring with a real funky, twisty jam after the DRUMS. The rest of the show is good.

Worth the price of admission.

Not quite on the level of 4/29, but definitely still worth listening to if only to hear Jerry and Duane duelling it out, especially on BIODTL. I love the contrast of the two players; Jerry, who's laid back, adventurous noodling is inimitable, while Duane attacks his guitar like a possessed bluesman. If only Duane didnt leave us so soon, they probably would have collaborated a lot more.

BTW, if you want a copy to burn onto a CD, Nugs.net has a pretty good sbd copy that's comparable to the versions that were once up here, which were average for '71, as far as sound quality. Not great, but definitely not bad. A couple of the songs are in the wrong order, but that's easily correctable and sounds seamless afterwards. http://stash.nugs.net/stash.asp?cmd=shows&artist=1

Overall, I'd rate this show a 4.5, and rounded up, would be a 5. But alas a 4.5 is not a 5, reserved only for the greats, according to yours truly. This one is very good, however, with a Grate Dark Star>Wharf Rat. Plus, the Hard to Handle on here just may be the very best I've heard, better even than the one three nights later.

Definitely worth checking out!

Hey what's the story? Oh well. If it's any consolation check out http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/grateful-dead-concert/50568-7413.html. Straight from Uncle Bobo's vault. Sound quality is great. I always loved the Hurts Me Too from this show. The interplay between the band w/ Duane & Pigpen's excellent vocals is phenomenal. BIOTDL also outstanding. The rest of the show absolutely rocks, but highlights are definitely w/ Duane. RIP Duane, Pig & Jerry. 5 stars if nothing else for the sentimental feeling.

so....why can't i listen to this?

Great show. Wanted to point out that the album, "Ladies and Gentleman, the Grateful Dead" features a compiliation of songs from the April 1971 Fillmore East shows, specifically from April 25th through April 29th. However, no songs from this April 26th show were included in on that CD. Not really sure why this show was left out...

I love 1971, always have. Highlights of this fine recording are with Duane. Sugar Mag is ok, but the BIODTL and It Hurts Me Too are great. Nice first set Dark Star->Wharf Rat (but not as nice as 2/18/71) and Good Lovin. Good old Fillmore East

Lots of people rave about Hard To Handle on 4/29. In my opinion, this one is better...tighter jamming, better bass response, and Pig's lyric at the end is dynamite ("I'm gonna bring it right around your house and lay it at your door!").

The entire show is excellent, and comparing which show from the entire run is kinda splitting atoms, 'cause you can't really go wrong with any of them. Get it and enjoy, you will not be disappointed.

-Sean K.

Don't be fooled!--THIS is the best HARD 2 HANDLE!--of the fillmore run//-ever.
Period.

Allman's slide solo on BIODTL is the best I've ever heard. What he does in the short span of those 16 bars is nothing short of mindblowing. I'm not an Allman's fan, but this has to be heard to be believed. It's pure genius. Gr8fullfred is right on.

I have had various versions of this tape for many years, and lost them too. I think that Duanes solo on BIODTL is so incredible, it shows how great Duane was. Except for this song, Jerry never got blown of the stage by anyone (at least not that I ever heard), but Duane takes command and blows Jerry's doors off. Duanes solo on BIODTL is in itself worth downloading. Even if you only download BIODTL, its worth the price of addmission. I give the 5 stars for Duanes incredible solo alone, anything else is just pure bonus material. I would like all of the folks involved in making this site and the music available on this site possible for all of us to enjoy.

Overall, a pretty good show, but this is probably the weakest of the April 71 FE run. Of course, BIODTL, Sugar Mag, and Hurts Me with Duane are good, but not Earth-shaking. The NFA>GDTRFB>NFA is cool but nothing especially remarkable. On the good side, the Good Lovin>Drums>Good Lovin is FABULOUS...not as good as the previous night's version (no Pig rap!), but has some awesome instrumental improv with Phil dropping some Earth-shaking bass bombs. Get it though, if you want a complete collection.

d2t5 (I Know You Rider) cuts off at 3:17 in the middle of (I wish I had a headlight..). I have downloaded it twice to be sure. separately and the whole show. same problem. Just finished the Hard to Handle and was thinking this is so good that my Dad would love it!!

The Sugar Magnolia file has an initial three and a half minutes of tuning before they launch into it. Duane's fills during the verses are easy to hear. He always said he "loved that Sugar Magnolia thing." His solo after the "wander round" verse is a bit hard to pick out, except his flurry towards the end, where you can tell he had some good things to say. His work on Hurts Me Too and BIODTL is clearer. [The tune ends at 10:19, though the file runs beyond twelve minutes].